A Dangerous Game
by SnipsSkywalker
Summary: Jenna Zan Arbor has always been fascinated by the Force.  Now, with The Chosen One and his apprentice in her hands, she will stop at nothing to unlock it's secrets.  But playing with the force is like playing with fire... a very dangerous game.


**I don't know if I'll go through with fic, but I have a plot going, and it's interesting enough. If you people like it, I'll update more. :P**

Her hands clenched into fists, curled tightly around the chains that bound her to the cold floor of the Separatist cell. She felt the slow trickle of blood dripping down her right montrail. Her legs ached from kneeling like this for such a long time. It seemed like an eternity that she had been in this dank cell, even though she knew it had only been days since she and Anakin had been fighting on the battlefield. Then everything had gone wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong.

_I'm meditating. _She thought harshly, mentally kicking herself. It wouldn't do her any good to think of it. Dwelling on the past would do her no good at all.

_Be mindful of the past, but live in the present_

Something Master Kenobi always said. She did not see how being mindful of the past and living in the present was going to assist her in her current dilemma, but she was not one to question the teachings of the Jedi. That was Anakin's job.

Unfortunately, Anakin was lying in the corner of their cell, bloodied and unconscious. She kicked herself again.

Meditating meant letting go of her surroundings, past and present, and becoming one with the Force.

She was trying. She really was. But immersing herself in the Force was becoming harder as the becoming harder as the days passed. She had to _try _to get a connection to the Force now, instead of just taking it for granted. Something was very out of place.

And she didn't want to remember what had happened in the past few days, or what was happening now. She _wanted _to let go. But she found that she couldn't.

She couldn't help thinking hopelessly that she and Anakin were far from any rescue. She couldn't help remembering his body, sprawled on the floor, even as she tried so hard to let go of her surroundings. It was too dark to see him… she wanted to see him, not merely feel his flickering life in the Force. She couldn't even hear his sharp breathing anymore. At least he was still alive. Barely alive, but alive. For how much longer, she didn't know.

They only tortured him for information. Ventress threatened to hurt her if he did not reveal the information, but this threat was empty. For some reason, she had been left alone with barely a scratch, while Anakin had been beaten, cut, electrocuted— she forced herself to stop. She didn't want to recall these brutal images again. She had seen it once –one time too many- and she had no desire to see it again, even in her mind. Still, his screams of pain echoed in her head.

She fervently wished that there was some way to escape… there must be. If they had made it through the citadel, they could escape this, couldn't they? Security was tight, and it was as if this place was _designed_ to hold Jedi.

And as impossible as it would seem, she could almost feel her connection to the Force diminishing, the more time she spent here. She had never felt so empty. She couldn't imagine why she was so distant from it. Perhaps it was her beaten master that was causing her connection to waiver. She couldn't bear being chained here as he moaned in pain. She could feel his agony in the Force, but not with such intensity as before she had been taken to this place. It scared her. Her connection to the Force was all she had here… if that left her, she would be utterly helpless.

She tried to tell herself that she was only imagining this… but she knew that she was not. This was impossible, but it was happening nonetheless. Only the slightest gap of her Force connection was missing, but she could feel it every second, like a gaping wound instead of the small cut that it was. It was a piece of her soul, missing. She had never felt like this before. It was distorting her mind.

Her master's weak groan jerked her out of her thoughts.

"A-Ahsoka? Are you there?" He gasped.

"Master?" She could hear her voice breaking with relief. The sound of his voice was too reassuring to measure.

"What's… what's going on?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"We were captured days ago… remember, master?" She said shakily.

"Oh. Yes." He sounded despondent. "Something's out of place…I can feel … no, I can't. I _can't_ feel it. "

"The Force. I don't know what's wrong, but I can't feel things the way I could before either." She struggled to keep her voice level for his sake, but she was on the verge of panic.

He laughed a small, pained laugh, coughing sharply as he did.

"You broke the Force while I was unconscious, Snips?"

She didn't know how he could joke at a time like this. He was bruised and bleeding, and even his strong connection to the force was faltering, and yet he found everything _funny. _Only Anakin Skywalker…

"That isn't funny, Master."

He sighed deeply, and immediately regretted it.

"Ouch. No, I guess it's not."

"Do you… I mean, are you…" Ahsoka groped for the right words to ask him if he was as close to death as she thought he was. She took a breath, attempting to calm herself.

"If you tried, could you walk?"

"More or less." The Jedi Knight responded, with obvious effort. If it was costing him this much to even speak…

_That's a no. _Ahsoka thought, grimacing as she did.

"Do you think escape is even possible?" She asked, desperate for an affirmative answer.

"No…" Anakin admitted. He was reluctant to admit this to her, she could tell. It was as if he wanted to protect her from the hard truth. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it, either.

"They're probably listening to every word we say." He said it bluntly, like he didn't care.

"I know."

She had thought of this, of course. This cell was likely equipped with hidden surveillance cameras as well as recording devices. In fact, she was almost sure of it. The fact that some _Separatist _was watching her every move unsettled her.

"It doesn't feel right," She said haltingly. "It's fading…"

She could hear her voice beginning to become tinted with the fear she was feeling inside, but there was nothing she could do. She tried to steady it as she talked, with no success.

"It's almost gone. I can't…" She grasped her chains once again. At least they were real, tangible. Her hands locked tightly around the faintly shimmering silver metal once again.

"I'm so scared, Master." She whispered, even knowing that whispering would do nothing. Every word she said could be used against her.

She felt the tears she had kept inside for days welling up, but she pushed them back with a hard swallow.

"I know, Snips," Anakin replied, just as softly. "It's like nothing I've ever… no, that's not true." She could tell from his tone, and his faint impression in the force, that he was struggling to speak in his anger.

"I felt this once… a long time ago. It was a drug. The zone of self-containment. It lessened my connection to the Force to a minor degree. Nothing like this. But this drug… it was developed by a scientist, Jenna Zan Arbor. She experiments with the Force."

Ahsoka felt her eyes widen spite of herself. _Experimenting with… the Force?_

"Ahsoka, if we're at her mercy…"

His strained voice trailed off. He didn't need to finish his sentence. She finished it for him.


End file.
